tagged w/ The Bush-Cheney Administration
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WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is moving to protect seven penguin species. Three other types, including the stars of recent movies, are being ignored.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list six species of penguin as threatened and one, the African penguin, as an endangered species.
It has denied protection under the 1973 Endangered Species Act for three others, including the emperor and northern rock-hopper penguins
The penguins live far from the United States but listing the penguins under the act, will raise awareness about the species and could give the United States leverage in international negotiations to protect them from fishing, habitat loss, development and other threats.
Praise and Criticism --
Environmentalists praised the Bush administration's proposal to list fully six penguin species, but criticized its decision not to protect the other three. The emperor penguin is the largest in the world and depends on sea ice for breeding and feeding.
Endangered species advocates also faulted the government for protecting a seventh species, the southern rock-hopper penguin, in only a small part of its range.
"Penguin populations are in jeopardy, and we can't afford to further delay protections," said Brendan Cummings, the oceans program director for the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, which requested in November 2006 that the administration protect a dozen penguin species.
-- Greed, Global Warming & the Destruction of the Endangered Species Act --
Recent research has shown that about a dozen species are in decline because of numerous stresses, including climate change. Increasing temperatures could melt ice in Antarctica and diminish populations of the penguin's preferred food.
The Bush administration listed the polar bear as a threatened species this year, the first species to be protected because of the threats of global warming. The administration also has completed regulations to ensure that the law is not used to block projects that contribute to global warming....WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is moving to protect seven penguin species. Three... more
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Lawsuit aims to stop Utah drilling auction - WASHINGTON - Conservation groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday to block the Bush administration's last-minute sale of oil-and-gas drilling leases in Utah near national parks and ancient rock art panels.
The Bureau of Land Management has scheduled an auction Friday to sell drilling leases covering more than 100,000 acres of wild land in eastern Utah.
The land being considered for drilling is some of the most spectacular scenery in the country, including land near Nine Mile Canyon, Dinosaur National Monument and Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.
Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., called the lease sale "an early Christmas present to the oil and gas industry from a lame duck administration with one foot already out the door. Once these pristine wilderness lands are destroyed we can never get them back."
Baird said he was not impressed that officials had scaled back the original plan to lease about 360,000 acres of public land for oil and gas development.
"It's a little bit like someone telling you they're going to rob only part of your house," Baird said. "It is a final insult from an administration that has done so much to destroy this country."
"These lands do not belong to Bush and Cheney. It's our land — public lands — and the BLM is supposed to be protecting lands on our behalf (Robert Redford said via satellite from Los Angeles during a news conference in Washington). " --DON'T YOU AGREE?
VIDEO: Dec. 17: Actor Robert Redford discusses 300,000 acres of Utah land near national parks which the government will be auctioning for oil and gas drilling rights.Lawsuit aims to stop Utah drilling auction - WASHINGTON - Conservation groups filed a... more
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Climate Progress » Blog Archive »
Some people just don’t think President Bush has done a terribly good job on climate change...
But, just because he single-handedly stopped any international action on climate and reneged on his 2000 campaign pledge to regulate CO2 and stopped California from regulating tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions and muzzled climate scientists and forced Congress to drop almost all non-oil-related provisions to cut GHGs from the 2007 energy bill
— that’s no reason to think the FHA (Future Historians of America), having previously named Bush the Worst President in American History will award him one of their rare Worst Leaders of All Time Awards, alongside such notables as Neville Chamberlain and Nero.Climate Progress » Blog Archive »
Some people just don’t think... more
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